smoker

Etymology

It is formed from English smoke + -er.^[2][3][4][5] The verb smoke is from Old English smocian, from smoca (“smoke”).^[3][2] The OED compares Dutch smoker, Middle Low German smoker and Danish smøger.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who cures fish, bacon and the like with smoke: 1599, in Thomas Nashe's Lenten Stuffe.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The tobacco sense followed soon after the spread of tobacco smoking: the OED's first record is from 1617, in Brathwait's Smoaking Age, and Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave both senses, "one that dries or perfumes by smoke" and "one that uses tobacco".^[5] From the late 17th century the word was used of things that give off smoke: a warship that hid operations behind smoke (1699–1811), a steamer (1825), a smoky chimney or locomotive (1883) and a device for calming bees (1875).^[2] A railway carriage for smokers is recorded from 1875 in American English according to Etymonline, from 1882 in the OED.^[3][2] Gatherings where smoking was allowed gave a concert (1887) and, in the United States, an informal social evening for men (1899).^[2] Smoker's cough dates from 1888 in the OED, 1898 in Etymonline.^[2][3] In Norfolk dialect a smoker was a heavy rain squall.^[7]

Timeline

• 1599 – a person who cures food with smoke.^[2]
• 1617 – a person who smokes tobacco.^[2]
• 1699 – a warship that discharges smoke (obsolete by 1811).^[2]
• 1875 – a device for smoking bees.^[2]
• 1875 – a railway smoking car (American English).^[3]
• 1887 – a concert at which smoking is allowed.^[2]
• 1888 – smoker's cough.^[2]
• 1899 – an informal social gathering for men (US).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who habitually smokes tobacco: She has been a heavy smoker since college.^[8][6][4]
2. A person who cures or preserves food by smoking it.^[6][4][2]
3. A railway carriage or compartment in which smoking is allowed.^[8][6][2]
4. An informal social gathering, especially of men.^[8][6][2]
5. A device that blows smoke at bees to calm them.^[6][2]
6. A vent on the ocean floor from which hot, mineral-laden water erupts.^[8]

Word family

• black smoker
• smoker's cough

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins